


Improvin' the Truth

by theholidayclub



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-12
Updated: 2013-12-12
Packaged: 2018-01-04 10:18:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1079815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theholidayclub/pseuds/theholidayclub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Jack and Davey having to stay in a “haunted” place overnight on a dare (well, Jack. Davey’s just a good friend), and Jack is nervous and superstitious and Davey, though he can’t figure out why the great Jack Kelly would be afraid of ghosts, comforts him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Improvin' the Truth

“You’re really doing all of this for a dime?”

“Course not,” Jack said, weaving his way through the seats in front of the stage. “I’m doing this on account of Boots daring me to do it, and Jack Kelly doesn’t back down from dares. Race’s money is just an added bonus.”

David rolled his eyes, speeding up to fall in step next to Jack, the two of them climbing up onto Medda’s stage. “You wanna tell me why Race is betting on you wimping out?”

“Not one bit,” Jack said brightly, his legs dangling off the edge of the stage.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, and David took advantage of the break in conversation to take a visual inventory of the building.

He’d been in Medda’s theater more times than he’d care to admit (but really, what kinda idiot turns down free vaudeville shows?) but never at night, when everything was dark and empty. The whole place looked different, with strange shadows and odd sounds echoing in the quiet.

David wasn’t really sure he believed Racetrack’s story about the joint being haunted, but the other newsies sure seemed to. Boots daring Jack to spend the night and try to find the ghost hadn’t been all that surprising. Race betting on the dare wasn’t all that strange either; he was gambling man after all. No, what threw David off was Race betting against Jack staying the whole night. He could hardly imagine anyone braver (or at least anyone as stubborn) as Jack. The idea of him skipping out sounded ridiculous to David.

It wasn’t long before he started getting restless; after being stuck in school all week, sitting on the stage for the whole night didn’t hold a lot of appeal.

“Woah, woah, where ya goin’?” Jack asked quickly, watching David stand up.

“You’re not planning on staying in that one spot for the next six hours, are you? I thought we were supposed to be looking for some ghost?”

“It’s just a story, Davey,” Jack told him, sounding more like he was convincing himself than David.

David cocked his head to the side and studied Jack’s face, the crinkles by his eyes and the worry lines on his forehead. “I know that. Do you know that?”

“Course I know that, what, do you think I’m stupid or somethin’?” Jack glared at David, jumping to his feet and crossing his arms defensively.

David shook his head. “No, but I think sitting up here for the rest of the night, bored out of our minds, is pretty stupid.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment David thought he was going to snap at him again. Then the Irish boy broke into a grin. “I’ll tell you what’s gonna be stupid. Race’s face when he has to hand over that dime a his.”

David grinned back, glad to see Jack actually (semi) normal again.

Jack grabbed David’s tie and gave it a tug, encouraging David to follow him back stage. David rolled his eyes, muttering something about Jack needing to learn to use his words, but followed none the less.

“Where do your folks think you are?”

The question took David by surprise, and he didn’t notice Jack had stopped walking in front of him. Jack swore when he was knocked into, and spun around, nearly getting tangled up in the rigging for the curtain.

It took David a moment to recover his thoughts; Jack was standing a lot closer to him than he was before. “Uh, they think I’m at the lodging house with you, actually. I told them we wanted to get an early start tomorrow, since we’re selling without Les and all with his cold, and that it didn’t make sense to go all the way home and then rush back in the morning.”

“And they bought that?”

David shrugged, his face growing warm under Jack’s gaze. “I’m here aren’t I?”

He hadn’t minded much when Mush had volunteered him to go to the theater with Jack and make sure he really stayed the whole time; he was planning on tagging along anyway. Someone had to protect Jack from himself.

“Not bad, Davey,” Jack said, looking impressed. “We might make a liar outta you, yet.”

David scoffed. “I wouldn’t count on –”

He was interrupted by a loud bang sounding from somewhere in the theater.

“What da hell was that?” Jack asked, the easy smile on his face replaced by a panic stricken expression.

“Something probably just fell over, no big deal,” David assured him, taken aback by how scared Jack seemed.

The dim light they’d turned on earlier went out then, drenching the area in darkness and causing Jack to let out an uncharacteristic yelp. David probably would have laughed if he wasn’t so thrown off by the situation.

“The bulb just died,” he said, patting Jack on the shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way, flushing again.

“That’s what dey say in all the stories, but they turn up dead at the end anyways,” Jack said bitterly, gripping David’s arm tightly.

“We don’t have to stay, Jack,” David reminded him.

“Pfft, and let Boots and Race think they won? Not a chance.”

David chewed at his bottom lip, battling internally with himself for a moment before speaking again. “We’ve been here a while now, right? Not knowing about a few extra hours won’t kill anyone.”

Jack’s face split into a grateful smile. “What’d I tell ya? A damn fine liar if I ever saw one.”

“It’s not lying, not really – just improving the truth some.”


End file.
